Feel Good Thursday

Thursday is my Rotary meeting day. Today we had a past District Governor make the pitch for Rotarians to increase membership. One of the sad facts of the modern world is that community service and fraternal organizations are in decline; Rotary less so than other organizations, but, nonetheless, it too has recently entered a period of declining membership. The image of Rotary is stodgy businessmen going to stodgy meetings. The idea of Rotary seems to conjure images of George Babbit and mindless "boosterism." But consider the fact that the boring and humdrum business people who make up the numerous Rotary clubs throughout the world have done more to improve the condition of more human beings than any other single institution in history. And Rotary has accomplished its goal privately, something that the Libertarian elements of Blogville should find interesting.

Consider the record on polio:

BBC News | HEALTH | Polio eradication draws closer

A worldwide drive launched in 1988 to wipe out the crippling virus polio has reduced the number of cases by 99%. Last year there were 3,500 reported polio cases, compared to 350,000 cases in the year the initiative started. Even in the past year the number of cases has been halved from more than 7,000.

Rotary - an entirely voluntary, private, non-Governmental association of business people - plans on eradicating polio by 2005

In 1985, Rotary International launched PolioPlus, a 20-year commitment to eradicate polio. PolioPlus is one of the most ambitious humanitarian undertakings ever made by a private entity. It will serve as a paradigm for private-public collaborations in the fight against disease well into the 21st century.
As the polio-eradication program grew, so did Rotary's commitment and involvement. By 1990, Rotary moved from providing polio vaccine to children in developing countries to assisting health care workers in the field, providing training for laboratory personnel to track the polio virus and working with governments around the world in supporting the historic health drive. Rotary looks to celebrate the global eradication of polio in 2005, the organization's centennial year.

The raw data on Rotary's success translates into a reduction of human misery

In 1988, 10 percent of the world's children lived in polio-free countries; as of 1 July 2001, more than 70 percent are living in polio-free countries. The number of cases of polio has declined by 99 percent since 1988

The voluntary actions of people committed to the idea of service is power.

So far, Rotary has raised nearly $500 million to vaccinate the world's 2 billion children, some of whom were immunized by 1 million Rotary volunteers. And Rotary has now launched a second fundraising drive, hoping to raise $80 million of an estimated $275 million now needed to drive the vanishing poliovirus to extinction, according to World Bank estimates. Rotary's Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force will ask the governments of wealthy nations to make up the difference.
Victory is drawing closer. Last year, doctors worldwide reported only 480 polio cases, down from 350,000 in 1988. Polio now circulates in just 10 countries: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Niger, Somalia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and Angola.

By the way, the Past District Governor noted that one of the fortunate side-effects of the War on Terror was that Rotary was able to reach and immunize the children of Afghanistan, which the Taliban had previously forbidden. Although not itself a justification for going to war, when the ledger sheet of civilian deaths is tallied, the fact that some children will not contract this horrible disease should certainly go on the positive side of the ledger.

So, if it seems like nothing is going right in the world, think again. Consider also the power that is produced by multiplying a small amount of voluntary individual service through an organization like Rotary.